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Well, This Xbox One Ad Is Terrifying

Feel like your gaming experience is missing chest wounds, cold sweats and hallucinations? MicrosoftMicrosoft has you covered. This new Xbox One ad is a weird one, to say the least. It seems to be saying that the Xbox One is real enough to reduce you to a bleeding, quivering mess. Suffice it to say, this waking nightmare is not the sort of gaming experience I’m really after:

Microsoft seems to be following SonySony yet again here, though it has got a long way to go before it can hope to match the incredible, incomprehensible weirdness of Playstation ads over the years. Take, for example, a philosophizing Scottish alien teenager ballerina, a bizarre attempt to sexualize the Dualshock controller buttons (maybe NSFW, though who’s to say?) and, to top it all off, an evil baby robot/doll crying in reverse in a featureless room with a PS3. Watch:

In all seriousness, this latest Xbox One ad is also notable for what it doesn’t show. We don’t see any of the Xbox One UI, no voice commands, no football, and no TV watching. It appears that Microsoft is trying to court gamers more now that we’re out of the holiday season. Versatility has been the main selling point so far, but aside from the “All in One” tag at the end, there’s no mention of this machine as a multimedia device at all.

The ad is striking, that’s certain. Microsoft is still bound to face an uphill battle in the core gamer market, however. Price is probably the biggest factor there: it’s $100 more expensive, and that extra money mostly buys you the Kinect and entertainment features, two things that core gamers don’t really care about.

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Microsoft can spin any amount of PR they want. Here is reality. You can buy an xbox one. Go in a store and look for a PS4 and you can’t find one. Microsoft will say they have a better supply chain blah blah… BULLCHIT. The PS4 is the coveted console. Microsoft made a all in one box when I don’t need that. I have a TIVO and others have a smart tv. Oh and I don’t want a camera on my gaming console. I don’t want to look at people nor do I want them looking at me when I am playing a game. I don’t get that. You know alot of people play online games in there underwear. LOL I want a PS4 PERIOD.

You sir are a moron. PS4 is in 48 countries compared to MS 13. So yes MS did allocate better and are trying to go at every market. As for the camera you are referring to 1) you can turn it of 2) it doesn’t even have to be plugged in for the Xbox to work. So all this spying nonsense is retarded. Xbox only has more options to use, it still plays games just a s good as PS4.

Who cares? Aren’t we passed driveling about why the One sucks, or how PS4 doesn’t feel “special” and all that? Yes the PS4 is selling better than the One (of course), chiefly because of the $100 price gap and all of MS’s PR flubs. If the One was $400 and had MS used their heads and said, “Look at how great or new Xbox plays games; oh by the way, look at all the other stuff it can do” , both consoles would be basically equal in sales. At the end of the day, both consoles are great at being what they truly are: game consoles. I for one love having both under my roof; the One for multimedia (does very well at this)/One exclusive games, and the PS4 as my main gaming machine.

Actually, the PS4 is in 53 countries. The problem Sony is having is its supply chain isn’t keeping up with demand. Microsoft’s problem is that they limited their launch market, and it appears from seeing the Xbox One readily available from multiple retailers, demand for the Xbox One in the markets in which they launched isn’t strong enough for them to sell all of their consoles.

Need proof? Go to Amazon, Best Buy or Target’s websites. All have the Xbox One in stock. I could order one and have it delivered in two days with Prime, or go by my local Best Buy or Target and pick it up after work. The PS4? Sold out. At all three.

Then take a look at Amazon’s Best Sellers of 2013. The PS4 is #6, the Xbox One is at #19 (just ahead of the DS4 at #20). Add to this the story of the PS4 outselling the Xbox One by 166,000 in the UK, along with the PS4 selling 250,000 units in Germany, as opposed to the Xbox One’s meager 100,000… Microsoft may have done very well by selling 3 million units in 2013, but the fact that they have units sitting on shelves says a lot about how they messed up with their launch strategy.

Wow, TJ…seriously??? You are one very over-zealous fanboy! Both the PS4 and the Xbox One are great machines. It doesn’t matter that one sells better than the other. Both are selling well — and competition is great for the industry.

It is a shame that some fanboys are so short of common sense that they feel a need to spit on anyone who has a preference that differs from their own. When I walk into a restaurant and order Buffalo-style hotwings, I don’t spit on the Garlic Parmesan wings…or the people who prefer and buy them.

@ Jacob: Nonsense. The iPad Air is selling very well…and is available online and in stores. Why? Apple did a great job determining demand in advance and made the effort to keep the product available. The same thing is true of Samsung Galaxy products. Availability doesn’t mean that the items aren’t in demand. A shortage doesn’t necessarily mean that an item is a “must have” for most people.

A “shortage” of a product doesn’t necessarily equate demand. It simply means the demand exceeded the initial supply. Thankfully, the video game “race” is a marathon and not a sprint. Microsoft was able to keep products on their shelves even though sales have exceeded their initial expectations and projections. How? Microsoft made certain to have a supply that exceeded those projections. As a result, many people turned to the Xbox One simply because it was available.

Competition is good for the industry. This isn’t a “war” in which we must declare sides or demonstrate absolutely loyalty and devotion. It is just a video game console — in which the preferences of consumers vary according to various factors.

@ Scott Schultz: Seriously??? You are ranting like a mad man about an American company being successful…yet you refuse to apply the same level of scrutiny at a multibillion dollar ASIAN company who has a large number of console zealots who attack a competing company’s console and those who might prefer it.

Well Scott if that were true companies like Sony would not have made a PS4 seeing as how PS3 sold less (alot less) than PS2. Nintendo would also have thrown in the towel. These companies are doing just fine…

I’m dying to see your business analytics portfolio that would suggest you’d have a shred of intelligence when dealing with sales forecasting. Any idiot with a keyboard can run their mouth. XB1 is the game console that has greatest appeal, only ignorants would say otherwise. But keep throwing your senseless Xbox hatred around, someone is bound to believe it eventually bit by then the Xbox One will have probably outsold the PS4. Enjoy your console, don’t spew your fanboyisms all over the net. It wastes digital ink.

You gotta love it! So far Ryse is my favorite next gen game between xbone and ps4, killzone shadow fall is close behind. WiiU still overall the better console with 3d world, and their version of batman origins is definitly the best. If you are a gamer on any level, you need all three consoles.

Anyone who takes this commercial so literally is a fool. It is like ALL commercials that play to extremes. Redbull does not actually give real wings. You cannot get a ride home from a pizza place when you order (even if it is safer then driving drunk). There are many commercials that play to extremes. It is “fools” that take them literally or people who are already predisposed that make a rukus about things like this.

When the hell did this become news. A company made a ridiculous commercial…. what a waste of perfectly good time. WGAF. Tho the commercial is funny in its own f***ed up way.

PS. Ryse looks boring as hell. So no I am not a fame of the game. However I am a fan of Xbox One. I say enjoy whichever console you prefer. One thing for sure, the day one of these consoles fail will be a sad day for gamers everywhere.

i am a core gamer and extra features matter. the xbox1 is an amazing console and i have no regrets in purchasing it. you guys keep saying real gamers will get a ps4 but in all honestly if your a real gamer you have a pc. no console can do what a pc can.

I actually would like to think this is true, but remeber, if it wasn’t for Halo in the first place (and a very devious, aggressive advertisement campaign using viral and mock techniques), there would not have been a 360 to follow the original xbox, which sold POORLY…..

But then again, Halo has been pretty bad since 343 has worked on it…..